Promoter Sandy Morland promises The Shimmy is 'a party', not 'a club night'

Brazilian duo Digitaria (Hot Creations) are set to play the event at Saint Judes

Anyone reading the papers lately might have noticed a furore build up over a Glasgow club with two-way mirrors installed in the ladies’ toilets, a story which went viral, then national, causing a spot of bad publicity for the club involved. Unfortunately for Sandy Morland, who works at Saint Judes elsewhere in the city and also promotes his own night there, the crossfire has come his way. Both his night and the club in question are called The Shimmy, but his has nothing to do with mirrors.

In fact, the original Shimmy has a worthy history of its own. Started in 1994 when he was just 16 years old, the Shimmy was an affectionate name for an afterparty held after raves at the Metro nightclub in Saltcoats, an ad hoc venue in a shop with a beer fridge and a dancefloor. Since that closed down Morland’s taken the name with him to Glasgow, running parties in the Art School, the Sub Club, the Courtyard and now Saint Judes.

‘The dirty word for what we play is deep house,’ he says. ‘For us, it’s just party music – big piano riffs, lots of vocals, fun stuff that goes somewhere. It’s not just a beat.’ The appearance of Brazilian duo Digitaria here is all down to the Shimmy’s close relationship with Hot Creations bosses Jamie Jones and Lee Foss, who they’ve promoted in the city before. ‘They play summery, party music with big breaks in it,’ says Morland, ‘and we don’t do a club night, we do a party.’